Woman gets probation for son's fatal mauling

Valerie Grace Carlson who was sentenced by Judge Laura W. Halgren to 1-yr in county custody and five years probation in the death of her 2-year-old son who was mauled by the family dog in 2010 while Carlson slept on the couch after drinking.
— John R. McCutchen

Valerie Grace Carlson who was sentenced by Judge Laura W. Halgren to 1-yr in county custody and five years probation in the death of her 2-year-old son who was mauled by the family dog in 2010 while Carlson slept on the couch after drinking.
— John R. McCutchen

San Diego  A Tierrasanta woman who was passed out drunk on her couch while her 2-year-old son was mauled to death by the family dog in an upstairs bedroom was sentenced Thursday to a year in county jail and placed on probation for five years.

Valerie Grace Carlson, 30, pleaded guilty to child endangerment, an allegation that she caused great bodily injury or death and other felony charges in connection with the July 31, 2010, incident.

Carlson’s three older children were at home when the boy, Aaron Carlson, was injured. Her eldest daughter made an unsuccessful attempt to wake the mother and tell her that Aaron was bleeding.

At the sentencing hearing Thursday in San Diego Superior Court, a prosecutor argued for prison while Carlson’s lawyer, Marc Kohnen, stressed that she had earned probation by showing marked improvement in a residential rehabilitation program and during supervised visits with her children.

Judge Laura Halgren agreed that Carlson’s efforts to improve herself after her son’s death were excellent and she said the Juvenile Court ultimately granted unsupervised visits. The judge said she believed Carlson had shown genuine remorse.

But the judge also noted that Aaron suffered a horrible death because his mother purposely “drank herself into oblivion.” She described the defendant’s conduct as inexcusable.

“I have no doubt that she will be haunted by Aaron’s death for the rest of her life,” Halgren said.

She said she would have sent Carlson to prison but was concerned about increasing the trauma experienced by her surviving children, now living with relatives in Colorado. The two girls and boy are age 8 and under.

“She still has an important role to play in their lives,” the judge said.

If Carlson violates the terms of probation, she could be sent to prison for eight years.

According to a warrant that led to Carlson’s arrest in April, a neighbor called 911 about 11:30 a.m. alerting them that Aaron had been seriously injured.

When paramedics arrived, they discovered he had cuts and scratches all over his neck and head. Much of the flesh from the middle of his face had been torn away. He died at Rady Children’s Hospital.

The father, who is in the Navy, was deployed overseas at the time.

Carlson told San Diego police detectives she had four to five alcoholic drinks the night before and failed to put the family dog, a German shepherd named Zeus, in a crate. She said she fell asleep on the couch in her two-story duplex.

“She knew how alcohol affected her,” Deputy District Attorney Fiona Khalil said. “She knew she had a problem. She had a duty to her four children.”

Khalil said Carlson also knew that the dog was dangerous. It had been abused and thrown from a car before the Carlsons adopted it.

Several family members told the judge that Carlson had been a good mother whose children adored her, but that something changed. Her mother, stepfather and siblings blamed themselves for missing signs of depression and alcohol abuse.

Carlson apologized to them in court and said the blame was hers alone.

“They couldn’t have helped me if I didn’t tell them I needed it,” she said. “I failed as a mother and I know that.”